Towns and Cities throughout Germany

Should your travels lead you beyond the larger cities of Germany, you will continue to find a country rich in Jewish history and culture. In the small cities below, you will discover memorials, museums, synagogues and Jewish Community Centers worth stopping at.

Tiny Schopfloch is typical of the German villages in which Jews lived from the Middle Ages until the Nazi-era. The city had a Jewish mayor in the 18th century, and, until the 1830s, the population was one-third Jewish. Memorial plaques mark both the 18th-century Jewish School and the site of the Synagogue destroyed on Kristallnacht.

In this small town near Nuremberg , the excellent Jewish Museum of Franconia is a branch of the Jewish Museum of Franconia in Fürth . It recalls Schnaittach’s 16th century prominence as the seat of Franconia’s “State Rabbis”. The museum is housed in the former synagogue-Talmud Torah-Mikve-Rabbi and Cantor’s House complex, and contains displays of ritual objects and mementoes of this small community.

Jews have lived in the capital of the Saar Region , on the French-German border, since 1321. After World War I, the Saar was administered by the League of Nations until the German takeover in 1935, at which time many Saarlanders, and most Jews, given the choice of Nazi-German or French nationality, chose the latter. The synagogue of Saarbrücken was destroyed on Kristallnacht, and the remaining Jews deported in 1940. Today’s Saarbrücken Jewish community has some 1,000 members.

Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber was home to a large Jewish community from the 12th to 16th century and from 1875 to World War II. The city has some of the best preserved Jewish sites in Germany. The White Tower, part of the city’s fortifications, is attached to the Jews’ Dance House. 13th century Jewish tombstones are artfully imbedded in the ancient stone wall surrounding its garden. On Jews’ Lane stand buildings from the 13th and 14th centuries. The Reichsstadt Museum is also worth a visit.

The Max Samuel House, opened in 1991, chronicles the history of Rostock Jewry and was created by the City of Rostock and the Ministry of Culture of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , with the advice and input of former Rostock Jews residing in Germany, Israel, the United States and Argentina. There is a small Jewish community in today’s Rostock.

Jews have lived in Regensburg since the 10th century. The community endured harrowing pogroms in 1348/49 as a result of the Black Death. In 1912, the city’s Jews opened an impressive synagogue that was badly damaged on Kristallnacht. During the 1930s the majority of Regensburg Jews emigrated. The Regensburg Jewish community was re-established in 1945, with parts of the wrecked synagogue restored for the community’s use. During following decades, the Synagogue has been significantly renovated.

One of the major sights of Osnabrück is the striking Felix Nussbaum House , exhibiting the works of an Osnabrück Jewish artist, who died in Auschwitz. Designed by Daniel Libeskind the museum combines Nussbaum’s art with architecture that resonates the lows-and-highs of the German Jewish saga. On Kristallnacht the synagogue was destroyed and Jewish stores and homes were looted and torched. Osnabrück’s Jewish community was revived in 1945 and a Synagogue and Jewish Community Center opened in 1969.

The town’s Gasthaus Salmen (Inn) is emblematic of the highs and lows of the German-Jewish experience. The inn was begun by Jewish owners in 1806 and in 1875 became a synagogue. It was destroyed on Kristallnacht. Restoration of the building under municipal auspices began in 1997, and in 2002 it was unveiled by the President of Germany as a Cultural Landmark of National Significance.